35 comments:

What is it about dollhouses and little girls? My sons showed no interest in "houses" for their toys. We got a vanilla cowgirl and horse for my 4-year-old for Christmas as sort of a "added value" gift just to keep the package count equal across the sibs. She looked at the back of the box, saw the house that's part of that collection and instantly started harping on it.

One thing I've noticed, though. While my daughters' room might be a disaster area, the dollhouse is always immaculately clean.

YEP! We got the 2-year-old the Imaginarium train table set for Christmas. I spent two hours putting it together on Christmas Eve so it would be displayed when they came down Christmas morning. So far, he loves it. Although, truth be told, so does the 4-year-old girl. If you sit and listen she will act out entire epics, doing all the parts (some of it surprisingly dark) herself.

I'm very happy with the purchase. Best $108 I've spent in a long time.

I think girls go more for interior environments and boys for exterior when playing with miniatures. Props add more to interior environments. Though, I can remember getting a particularly cool sheet metal castle one Christmas morning. (I certainly remember my father reminding me about it every time I had to put together a "some assembly required" kit for my kids.)

Pasta, you can do it in Photoshop but I don't know how. Googling tilt-shift will lead to a lot of good info and tips. I've never used it for professional images but my kids and I have had fun in the past with the tiltshiftmaker.com tool. You're right that certain pictures work better than others.

Why is there a lack of interest in contemporary art? Here's Exhibit A. It's a lot of work, skillfully done and all that, but ultimately it's a big wagging finger admonishing us about what commercialism hath wrought, and how our shiny exteriors belie the rot within. Yawn.

Boys used to have forts ans stuff for their cowboy and Indians.. i built a full town of the west (and a natives camp) basically with thootsticks( and paper for the teppes, we called that way the tents)including bar with swinging doors , and a hanging device.

When did Barbie become to toys what Jews are to people--the hapless victim of relentless prejudice, hatred, and caricaturing?

The feminists hate her. The race-baters hate her. The Big is Beautiful herd (moo!) hates her. Now the anti-consumerists hate her. Doubtless, many of Barbie's biggest fans of yesteryear are harboring her in their attics as we speak. So sad.

And when did art become to culture what dogshit is to my back yard--a blight of dubious value?

Art really has become the Special Olympics of passionate endeavors. This idiot gets a blue ribbon of recognition just for trying something. Are we really calling any expense of prolonged, tedious effort art nowadays? It boggles the mind.

Plus the idiot's message is a strawdoll: this is, like, ALL of Barbie's alter-egos stuffed into one dreamhouse. Barbie doesn't consume to the extent this woman is trying to say she does. She is slandering Barbie's reputation, so that so many years as a selfless, commendable veterinarian/doctor/reporter/biologist/computer programmer/housewife/schoolteacher is reduced to something so base, so vile. So sad.

"She is slandering Barbie's reputation, so that so many years as a selfless, commendable veterinarian/doctor/reporter/biologist/computer programmer/housewife/schoolteacher is reduced to something so base, so vile. So sad."

Little boys love castle sets, the Death Star playsets, all that stuff. Just the other day, a blogger posted a photo of an old D&D castle playset, and the four year old son of one of his comboxers saw it. Instantly he was fascinated and demanded one, and his dad had to try and convince him that the thing hadn't been produced for at least twenty-five years....